UWS unites to support fire victim’s road to recovery

In September of 2012, twenty seven year old UWS student Yinuo Jiang took the leap that most probably saved her life. 

From her bedside at Liverpool Hospital, Yinuo recalls making the split decision to jump from her fifth floor apartment in Bankstown to escape the billowing smoke and raging flames sparked by an air-conditioning unit fire.

Unable to reach the front door Yinuo recounts looking down from the burning high rise apartment for a place clear of trees or walls and making the life or death leap. Her flatmate’s girlfriend, Connie Zhang, followed after her, but died instantly from the fall.

The Chinese native, who came to Australia to study early childhood education at the University of Western Sydney, landed on her backside on a first-floor ledge almost 15 metres below.

She broke both hips and shattered both ankles and the thick smoke from the 1000-degree fire burnt the back of her legs and the right side of her abdomen. After six operations to insert metal plates in her joints and graft skin from her thigh to her right hand and abdomen, Yinuo is continuing intensive rehabilitation and is hopeful she will return in 2013 to complete her Masters in Teaching.

When notified of this event, in the spirit of the UWS community many staff and students expressed a desire to make a financial contribution to assist Yinuo and her family who travelled from Northern China to be by her bedside.

In direct response, the University established the Student Welfare Fund, to provide support and assistance to students like Yinuo Jiang, raising more than $12,000 for her recovery.

Staff from UWS International have maintained close contact with Yinuo and her parents since the tragedy to provide as much assistance and support as possible. UWS Residential College and Student Support Services assisted Yinuo’s parents in securing and furnishing accommodation close to their daughter in Liverpool Hospital. UWS Chaplaincy provided support and facilitated contact with Chinese-speaking members of the church community. Professor Michael Adams, Dean of the School of Law, offered to provide pro-bono legal support. The Vice Chancellor Professor Janice Reid visited Yinuo in hospital in October and made arrangements for IT Services to purchase an iPad for Yinuo.

Yinuo’s father, Yanfu Jiang, says that he is lost for words in trying to express thanks and appreciation for all the care and help that has been provided by UWS to his family during this difficult time.

‘I am proud to be part of a University that shows so much kindness and generosity in times like this.’

Give today to support the Student Welfare Fund for students like Yinuo Jiang.